Lillian,
You wrote ...
"Also, prior to that and/or re-set, ask what all the aps are on it. That
way, if there are aps you wish to retain that might otherwise be lost to
you, tell that tec to make a note of them so they can be re-installed
for you.
The problem is that, until someone can get into the device there is no
way for anybody to determine which apps are installed. The only way to
determine that is to first know the correct passcode.
Yes, the Web site to which you are referring is Applevis,
www.AppleVis.com. Among other things, it contains reviews of apps based
on how accessible they are with VoiceOver.
The number for the Apple help desk for customers with disabilities is
877 204-3930
David
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-philly-comp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-philly-comp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jan Lattuca
Sent: Monday, June 5, 2017 11:45 AM
To: blind-philly-comp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-philly-comp] Re: Article: Wearable System Helps Visually
Impaired Users Navigate
As to the Ipod Touch, the code that I have been given is only four
digits. I wonder if that is the problem. Unfortunately, no on is
sure, any more, what the unlock code was. Any ideas as to how to find
out or initiate a new one?
JanThanks, David, for the info.
On 6/5/17, David Goldfield <dgoldfield1211@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi, Jan.You are invited to visit the moderator's Web site at WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
Congratulations on acquiring your new computer with its new operating
system. That's so wonderful. I'm neither an expert with Narrator or
Cortana but feel free to put your questions out there and I'm sure one
of us will respond. I will, as well, if I can assist.
If you have NVDA, I think that you will find that it will probably be a
more capable screen reader than Narrator. Having said that, Microsoft is
adding more and more features to Narrator than they ever have. With each
major Windows 10 release, Narrator receives more and more features.
During the days of Windows XP through Windows 7, Narrator was so basic
that it really couldn't be used effectively as a daily, primary screen
reader. However, as Kurt has said Microsoft is really changing this with
Windows 10. There are some users who may find that Narrator can do what
they need. I don't know it as well as I know NVDA but I can tell you
that it's getting better and better very quickly. For reference, here's
a link to Narrator's manual.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/22798/windows-10-narrator-get-started
Regarding entering the code for your iPod Touch, is this the six-digit
PIN you need to enter on the lock screen?
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist Feel free to visit my
Web site WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
On 6/4/2017 8:25 PM, Jan Lattuca wrote:
Hi, guys. I've been rather incognito for most of this year because ofYou are invited to visit the moderator's Web site at WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
ongoing, though, initially intermittent, computer problems. However,
for those of you who know me a bit, I can now proudly announce that I
am responding to this email via my new Windows 10 computer!!! Yes,
the old Windows XP is just about ready to be brought to Staples for
recycling.
I already am developing questions, like about narrator, Cortana, etc.;
but for now, let me just say that this new device that you've shared
in this email, David, evokes rather ambivalent reactions in me.
Finding a vacant seat on the bus with ease does have its appeal. Not
sure, though, how other applications would really work. I suppose the
device is rather pricey right now. Wonder when it will be available
for sale.
Thanks for sharing, as always, David.
And now for two quick questions. First, is Narrator good enough to
function as one's sole screen reader? I do have NVDA right now, of
course. Second, is there an easy way to turn Narrator off permanently
until one wants to use it. Now, it comes up each time I turn on the
computer and I have to exit it. No biggy, but it would be nice if
this extra step could be avoided.
Jan Lattuca
P.S. For those who may recall that I was playing around with Ipod
Touch, I have to admit that I've made no progress to date. The
stumblingblock is that we can't seem to make the code work so that I
can get into the device. Ah, well, at least I now have a Windows 10
computer.
On 6/4/17, David Goldfield <dgoldfield1211@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Wearable System Helps Visually Impaired Users NavigateYou are invited to visit the moderator's Web site at
JUNE 1, 2017 BY ACCESSIBILITY NEWS INTERNATIONAL
Larry Hardesty | MIT News Office
May 31, 2017
New algorithms power a prototype system for helping visually impaired
users avoid obstacles and identify objects.
Device provides information from a 3-D camera, via vibrating motors and
a Braille interface. Watch Video at the link below
Computer scientists have been working for decades on automatic
navigation systems to aid the visually impaired, but its been difficult
to come up with anything as reliable and easy to use as the white cane,
the type of metal-tipped cane that visually impaired people frequently
use to identify clear walking paths.
White canes have a few drawbacks, however. One is that the obstacles
they come in contact with are sometimes other people. Another is that
they cant identify certain types of objects, such as tables or chairs,
or determine whether a chair is already occupied.
Researchers from MITs Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a new system that uses a 3-D camera, a
belt with separately controllable vibrational motors distributed around
it, and an electronically reconfigurable Braille interface to give
visually impaired users more information about their environments.
The system could be used in conjunction with or as an alternative to a
cane. In a paper theyre presenting this week at the International
Conference on Robotics and Automation, the researchers describe the
system and a series of usability studies they conducted with visually
impaired volunteers.
We did a couple of different tests with blind users, says Robert
Katzschmann, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at MIT and one
of the papers two first authors. Having something that didnt infringe on
their other senses was important. So we didn’t want to have audio; we
didnt want to have something around the head, vibrations on the neck all
of those things, we tried them out, but none of them were accepted. We
found that the one area of the body that is the least used for other
senses is around your abdomen.
Katzschmann is joined on the paper by his advisor Daniela Rus, an Andrew
and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science; his fellow first author Hsueh-Cheng Wang, who was a postdoc at
MIT when the work was done and is now an assistant professor of
electrical and computer engineering at National Chiao Tung University in
Taiwan; Santani Teng, a postdoc in CSAIL; Brandon Araki, a graduate
student in mechanical engineering; and Laura Giarré, a professor of
electrical engineering at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in
Italy.
Parsing the world
The researchers system consists of a 3-D camera worn in a pouch hung
around the neck; a processing unit that runs the teams proprietary
algorithms; the sensor belt, which has five vibrating motors evenly
spaced around its forward half; and the reconfigurable Braille
interface, which is worn at the users side.
The key to the system is an algorithm for quickly identifying surfaces
and their orientations from the 3-D-camera data. The researchers
experimented with three different types of 3-D cameras, which used three
different techniques to gauge depth but all produced relatively
low-resolution images 640 pixels by 480 pixels with both color and depth
measurements for each pixel.
The algorithm first groups the pixels into clusters of three. Because
the pixels have associated location data, each cluster determines a
plane. If the orientations of the planes defined by five nearby clusters
are within 10 degrees of each other, the system concludes that it has
found a surface. It doesnt need to determine the extent of the surface
or what type of object its the surface of; it simply registers an
obstacle at that location and begins to buzz the associated motor if the
wearer gets within 2 meters of it.
Chair identification is similar but a little more stringent. The system
needs to complete three distinct surface identifications, in the same
general area, rather than just one; this ensures that the chair is
unoccupied. The surfaces need to be roughly parallel to the ground, and
they have to fall within a prescribed range of heights.
Tactile data
The belt motors can vary the frequency, intensity, and duration of their
vibrations, as well as the intervals between them, to send different
types of tactile signals to the user. For instance, an increase in
frequency and intensity generally indicates that the wearer is
approaching an obstacle in the direction indicated by that particular
motor. But when the system is in chair-finding mode, for example, a
double pulse indicates the direction in which a chair with a vacant seat
can be found.
The Braille interface consists of two rows of five reconfigurable
Braille pads. Symbols displayed on the pads describe the objects in the
users environment for instance, a t for table or a c for chair. The
symbols position in the row indicates the direction in which it can be
found; the column it appears in indicates its distance. A user adept at
Braille should find that the signals from the Braille interface and the
belt-mounted motors coincide.
In tests, the chair-finding system reduced subjects contacts with
objects other than the chairs they sought by 80 percent, and the
navigation system reduced the number of cane collisions with people
loitering around a hallway by 86 percent.
Original at
http://news.mit.edu/2017/wearable-visually-impaired-users-navigate-0531
--
David Goldfield, Assistive Technology Specialist Feel free to visit my
Web site WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
You are invited to visit the moderator's Web site at
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